Continuing its recent tradition of fall-timed dates, the Atlanta Pride Festival—touted as the Southeast’s largest Pride festival—returns to Piedmont Park Oct. 12-13.

2013 marks the fifth year of Atlanta Pride’s occurrence in the fall season, following 2008’s temporary change of venue from Piedmont Park to the Atlanta Civic Center. Since 2010, the annual festival has lined up with National Coming Out Day, which occurs annually on Oct. 11. The current dates make the Atlanta Pride Festival the largest event in the United States to occur in conjunction with National Coming Out Day.

Buck Cooke, the executive director of the Atlanta Pride Committee, says through a press release that the “National Coming Out Day continues to be a great fit for our festival and we are excited to have the Official Kick-off Party at the Georgia Aquarium occur on this very important date.”

Cooke added, “We have many reasons to celebrate the advances that our community has realized, but there is still much work to be done. 2013 is already shaping up to be a great year for APC with new partnerships and programs planned for the upcoming months. I look forward to seeing the great things our talented and dedicated volunteers will create this year.  The Atlanta Pride Committee will use the programs leading up to and occurring during the Festival to highlight those efforts and work to create positive momentum to make a lasting impact for the LGBTQ community.”

The Atlanta Pride Committee will also be organizing special events for the month of June to coincide with the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, details of which will be announced in the coming months.
For more information on Atlanta Pride, including information on applying for parade participation, market vending and entertainment, visit atlantapride.org.